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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26903350">the bats have left the bell tower</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious'>SafelyCapricious</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ain't no grave can hold my body down [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Demon Summoning, Demons, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 23:20:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,396</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26903350</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Demonology was one of the few areas of study that Hermione Granger had not spent any time on.</p>
<p>Well, she’d spent a little time on it, but only because she’d thought that maybe the basilisk was a demon -- but it had only been five minutes that she’d thought so.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sirius Black/Hermione Granger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>ain't no grave can hold my body down [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950148</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>124</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>the bats have left the bell tower</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title from bela lugosi's dead by bauhaus</p>
<p>Inspired by a tumblr post I saw floating around, that I haven't been able to find since. Tumblr post paraphrased in end notes.</p>
<p>This is mostly canon universe, except Sirius Black was never a human and never around, but I'm sure they got up to other mischief 3rd year. </p>
<p>Fictober continues on, day 8 and I have lost the will to live. Tho, honestly, the lost will to live has v. little to do with fictober this year? So like, that's something I guess. We'll take it. </p>
<p>Theoretically for fictober prompt "candle". </p>
<p>As always, JKR is a horrible human being/TERF pos. Trans lives matter.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">Demonology was one of the few areas of study that Hermione Granger had not spent any time on.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Well, she’d spent a <em>little</em> time on it, but only because she’d thought that maybe the basilisk was a demon -- but it had only been five minutes that she’d thought so.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Alright, it was closer to a full day, but in her defense she was the only one who had figured out what the basilisk was without coming face to face with it <em>first</em> (though, of course, she had also, unfortunately come face to face with it before she could tell anyone). And more relevantly the only book she could access as a second year that was about demons had been misfiled because it was in a strange sumarian dialect and it had taken her the better part of the day to translate the introduction. Which had been all she’d needed to decide the thing haunting the halls was most definitely not a demon.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">But even with no ideas about demons, she was sure she'd be able to figure out what was going on when she’d been woken up with a spell.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Most decidedly because they’d announced it.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“The little mudblood virgin will be our ticket to summoning a demon to wipe her kind out!” </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">But also because they had her tied up, wearing some white lacy monstrosity, in the middle of a very complicated archaic circle that just looked demonic, surrounded by a bunch of black pillar candles that were smoking ominously.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">But mostly because they’d announced it.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She was fairly sure they were idiots -- except they’d gotten the drop on her, taken her wand, tied her hands <em>and</em> silenced her before they’d woken her up -- so they weren’t complete idiots.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">It was a little galling to have been captured by idiots, regardless.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She struggled and almost managed to break the chair before they immobilized her as well -- and she tried to curse them with her mind when they brought a knife to her chest and --</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Fuck, one more scar to add to the list. At least this knife wasn’t so obviously cursed -- it hurt, because they were cutting into her chest, but it didn’t hurt like <em>crucio</em> followed by words being carved into her arm.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She’d be pissed about another scar if she survived this.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She was still hoping they would just fail -- she didn’t know who they were, though their ideology seemed obvious enough, what with the death eater masks they were wearing, but she had some guesses -- but she wasn’t going to hold her breath for that.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">They started chanting -- and it sounded like really poorly enunciated latin and so she had some hope, again, that maybe they’d fucked it all up -- but then a figure was starting to materialize in the smoke in front of her.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She would’ve sworn about that if she wasn’t immobilized.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“You have summoned me, and paid the price, I will stay and carry out your will until such a time as you vanquish me back, what may I do to serve you?” The demon was very tall -- or, well, he <em>was</em> tall but then he had horns that stretched up almost another two feet and Hermione -- now feeling a bit light headed from blood loss, wondered how he ever got through doorways.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“We want you to kill all mudbloods --” one of the baby death eaters started before the demon slashed a hand through the air and he started to gasp, hand dramatically at his throat.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Did this demon have the force?</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Hermione was kind of glad, suddenly, that she was immobilized because she wanted to giggle and that seemed like it would probably be a mistake.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“I wasn’t talking to you.” And then, shockingly, the demon knelt before her, touching her knee lightly and she felt the spell fall away so she could move again and even her hands were free and -- “What would you ask of me, My Lady?” he intoned, and she realized he had the most beautiful mercury eyes. She leaned forward, despite herself, wanting to fall into them.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Shrill voices pulled her back, as she literally set back into her chair. “Wait -- no -- we’re the ones who summoned you not --”</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“It is her blood that called me forth,” he said, starting to sound annoyed, glancing over his shoulder away from her and towards them, “so it is her I shall serve.”</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Hermione blinked, blinked again, and then started to laugh.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">They <em>had</em> fucked up. That was reassuring.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“But demons <em>hate</em> mudbloods!” baby death eater number three shouted -- actually pulling at his hair which seemed a bit overly dramatic.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Hermione rubbed feeling back into her wrists, and then once the pins and needed had faded she flexed her hand, concentrated, and said: “<em>Accio</em> wand,” glad she’d practiced <em>Accio</em> wandless enough to feel confident in it, as the dramatic little bastards wailed. She was pleasantly surprised that it was her wand that flew into her hand and not one of theirs. She’d half expected them to have broken her wand, or, at least, left it where they’d grabbed her and not brought it with them.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“She’s a mudblood!” one of them continued, loudly enough that she glanced up.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Her demon -- the demon -- shrugged -- which did some really lovely things to his back muscles -- he’d gotten up at some point and was standing protectively between her and them -- and she had to forcefully pull her attention from the flex of them.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She’d probably lost too much blood and was just...having some side effects from that. Yes. Definitely that.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">She carefully tried to close her wound -- a spell she was fairly good at but was notoriously difficult to cast on oneself -- keeping a weather eye on the ‘discussion’. She managed to knit the skin enough that she wasn’t actively bleeding, though she likely needed to get an actual bandage on it soon and it would probably split again if she moved too quickly, which was inconvenient.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“I don’t know what that word means,” her demon said -- and she probably needed to figure out what his name was -- even as he twisted his wrist and suddenly was holding a handkerchief. And then, as if it was totally reasonable for him to do so, he turned back to her, crouched in front of her and started to dab at the blood still on her skin.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“We hate” and here he said a word, or four words at the same time overlapping?, that she didn’t recognize but that tasted like ash and defeat and <em>maybe</em> sounded like “mood-bleed” if she had to attempt to say it herself.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“That is,” he clarified, thumb now running over her suddenly completely healed wound -- there wasn’t even a <em>mark</em> -- and his hands were way too close to her breasts and she was definitely faint with blood loss because she wasn’t stopping him, “people who use others and take credit for their sacrifice.”</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">His grin was bright and sharp and made her next exhale shaky -- even as he moved his hand to his mouth and sucked his thumb into his mouth which should have made him look infantile but mostly just made her want to whimper. He left a little red, behind, even as the thumb left his mouth, and she realized, abruptly that he’d had her blood on his thumb.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">And then that same wet thumb was wiping up the last of her dried blood.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“Please let me take care of these <em>moodbleeds</em> for you, my lady,” he said, and she wondered if blood replenishing potion would even help her now.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">And also if making a deal with a demon was as bad an idea as she thought it probably was.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“What’s your name?” she asked, instead, because maybe if she stopped thinking of him as hers and thought of him with a name instead it would help.</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“Sirius Blackeus,” he said, standing in a flash and then bowing fairly low -- but keeping his head up which was probably good because his horns really were massive. And then he was holding her hand and brushing a kiss across her wrist and --</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“Right,” she said, snatching her hand back and standing up quickly, firing off three spells quickly to incapacitate her captors, “that’s enough of that.”</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">“Oh love,” he said, voice a purr, “we’re just getting started.”</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">Yes, she decided, she was afraid of that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Tumblr post: The virgin who bleeds for those demonic summonings is the one who actually summons the demon.</p>
<p>I hope to do a smut follow up to this. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ we'll see how that goes. </p>
<p>Questions, concerns, just wanna talk? Find me <a href="https://www.tumblr.com/blog/capriciouswrites">on tumblr</a>, and let me love you.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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